NIZHNY NOVGOROD (Interstat) — Alexander Samonov stopped 23 of 25 shots and CSKA Moscow held off Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3-2 on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, at Trade Union Sport Palace in a Kontinental Hockey League game. Nikolai Kovalenko, Derek Barach and Yegor Zamula scored for CSKA, which improved to 3-3-0. Daniil Seroukh scored twice for Torpedo, which fell to 4-2-0 before an announced crowd of 12,350. Kovalenko opened the scoring at 9:20 of the first period, assisted by Ivan Patrikhayev and Robert Hamilton. Barach made it 2-0 at 27:24 of the second, with Pavel Karnaukhov assisting. Seroukh answered at 32:06, with Bogdan Konyushkov and Vladimir Tkachyov assisting. Zamula restored CSKA’s two-goal lead at 51:20 of the third, assisted by Nikita Nesterov and Marat Khairullin. Nikita Okhotyuk’s holding penalty at 54:22 led to Seroukh’s second goal at 56:16, with Pavel Kraskovsky and Mikhail Vorobyov assisting. Samonov earned the win. CSKA next visits Admiral Vladivostok on Monday, Sept. 21. Torpedo hosts Avangard Omsk on Tuesday, Sept. 22.